Educated at the theological seminary at Bucharest, Cristea was elected bishop of Caransebeş, Rom., in 1910. In 1918, at the end of World War I, he was a member of the delegation to Budapest that sought the union of Romania and Transylvania, which had been under Hungarian rule; after the union was effected, he was unanimously chosen primate (1919), becoming metropolitan of the principality of Walachia, in southern Romania.

From 1926 to 1930 he was one of the three Romanian regents during the ill health of King Ferdinand and the period before the accession of King Carol II, under whom he became premier in 1939. In this office, he attempted to achieve political stability and unity. From his enthronement as patriarch in 1925, Cristea’s influence in promoting peace and unity was felt by Christians outside Romania. On a journey to Palestine in 1927, he visited the Patriarch of Constantinople and other heads of Orthodox churches; he went to England in 1936 at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.